Romance in G Major
by Gerald Tarrant
Summary: Sumeragi Subaru investigates a strange case. A trilogy.
1. Crystal Strings

Tokyo Babylon is property of CLAMP, Shinshokan Comics, MOVIC, and Sony Music Entertainment Japan Inc. This is a non-profit work of fanfiction. No copyright infringement is intended. Please do not repost without permission.

Lyrics and translation from _Say Anything_, by X Japan, copyright 1991

lordofmerentha@yahoo.com

**TOKYO BABYLON  
CRYSTAL STRINGS  
Sumeragi Subaru**

  
[sawameki dake ga kokoro o sashite  
_only a heartbeat stabs my soul_]

Crystal strings.

Hearing them as from within a dream, a vague dream, one of those dreams where he wasn't exactly sure if it was a dream or just his imagination playing tricks on him in the dark.

Crystal.

Strings.

He turned fitfully and the movement brought the sheets bunched up around him tumbling just a bit, a tiny bit, and the chill air of the room hit skin.

He woke.

[I've been crying in a dream]

It was entirely too cold and too early an hour to be up, and his body complained even as he pulled on a pair of sweatpants and oversized shirt, shaking, and he wanted a nice hot cup of tea.

Or coffee, even.

He wondered if he could get her to make coffee for him.

She hated coffee.

She hated his sweatpants and oversized shirt too, but that was a different matter altogether. The expected frown was on her face when he stumbled into the kitchen with a sleepy "ohayo" and the smile on his lips turning to a wary half-hopeful grin.

"Just WHAT do you think you're wearing in MY kitchen, Sumeragi Subaru?"

He sighed.

She had those ridiculous cat ears on again, and he supposed they suited her. Damned if he was going to go prancing around in a pair of cat ears, though. Not that she had bought him any, but it was the principle of the thing.

"SWEATPANTS? AND A T-SHIRT?"

"Hokuto-chan-"

"DON'T HOKUTO-CHAN ME!" Banshee shriek. He raised his hands in front of him.

"Hey…hey…"

The phone rang.

"I'll get it!" he gasped, dodging her and leaning agily across the counter for the buzzing receiver. The look on her face could have wilted a garden.

"Moshi moshi." He sounded a bit breathless. Must let heartbeat calm. Must not look at her. Must pretend she does not exist. Must concentrate on important phone call.

"Sumeragi Subaru-sama?"

[takanaru omoi nurashite  
_bringing back the memories_]

"I have a job today," he said, hanging up with a definite sounding click. He liked the sound of that. It was something done, something taken care of, something that he had a part of making.

She glared.

"Hokuto-chan-"

"I spend good money on your wardrobe, you know, Subaru-kun-" she said at last. "It's not hanging in your closet so you can open and admire it from time to time."

"It's one thing to wear nice clothes out on the job, Hokuto. It's another thing to wear them around my own h-"

"Blah blah blah." The kettle on the stove whistled with a cheerful sounding shriek.

Head in his hands. Of all the days…

"Toshimatsu and I broke up yesterday," she said quietly.

Eyes flying open. She didn't look at him, bustling around the small area, opening and shutting cupboards, taking out cups, bowls, chopsticks, banging pans.

"H-Hokuto?"

"Don't sound so surprised," she mumbled. "It was going to happen sooner or later. Muddle-headed boys. It wasn't like-"

Her eyes were puffy, he realized. She had been crying last night. Probably this morning. Probably hadn't slept. Probably…

"I'm over him, anyway." The quaver in her voice quickly muffled by hissing of steam from the kettle as she poured. Honey-golden liquid streaming into the cups, which were shaped like cats, too, he realized belatedly. They must be new.

"I'm so over him. In fact, I think I'm going to go downtown and buy myself a new outfit. Today. This morning. I haven't been shopping in forever, and I think I-"

Wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her hair. His face. Her face. Two sides of the same coin. Or was it two coins with the same side? "Hokuto-chan, I'm sorry."

Her sobs were muffled in the long sleeves of his shirt and she didn't answer him. The ridiculous cat ears tickled his nose and he tossed them onto the counter. They skittered across the smooth surface like stones across a pond. Small smooth black stones skipping across a pond, with shadows of goldfish darting away underneath.

"He has a concert tonight. All the times I spent over at his place listening to him practice…and I'm not even going to the concert. Bastard."

Crystal.

Crystal strings.

[kooritsuita toki ni furuete  
_shiver in the time that was frozen_]

"Hokuto-chan…" he soothed, smoothing the soft hair, like the first down feathers of a baby bird. Her silk nightgown rustled around her ankles and the neko-tail around her waist curled between them.

And the moment was over. She, rubbing her eyes, stepping away. "Ne, what do you say, Subaru-kun? You want to go shopping with me?"

"Ah…I have work." A handy excuse. Thanking the gods for it.

"You always have work," she replied, but she was smiling and her hand was only shaking slightly as she handed him his teacup which was shaped like a cat's head, and the tear which slipped from the corner of one eye like a muse's silken thread was dashed away before a word was spoken.

"I suppose I'll have to go alone. Anything you want?"

[You say anything kizutsuke au kotoba demo  
_but the words hurt_]

The address of the apartment was right near the veterinary clinic and he considered for a moment stopping by to say hello, but work was probably very busy and the animals were always skittish in the morning…

After. After his appointment. Maybe…maybe they could have lunch.

He'd like that.

The landlord of the place apparently didn't believe in elevators, and the stairwell was dark and smelled of rat-droppings. He'd been in worse, but the silk suit he wore hadn't, and he winced when one elegant cuff brushed the side of a rank wall ever so slightly. He knew he should have come in those old sweatpants and oversized shirt.

He knocked. He hoped he had the right address. It was very embarrassing when one knocked on the door of an apartment and someone with bleary eyes opened it and replied in scathing, sleep-deprived tones that the aforementioned person did not in fact reside there, and shut the door with a bang in one's face.

Very embarrassing indeed.

The door squeaked open. Winkled face, deep elderly voice. "May I help you?"

"Ahh…" he bowed, to cover for the fact that he in fact did not quite know how to begin. "Ahh…sumimasen…but I'm looking for an Ueda-san…?"

"I am Ueda." Door opening wider. "You are?"

"Sumeragi Subaru."

Eyes blinked at him. They never expected someone so young, after all this time, after all the jobs and the recommendations the government put out for him. He should just start wearing a sign. ONMYOUJI FOR HIRE, WARNING: YOUNG

"Ah, Sumeragi-sama!" A tone of reverence, almost, of worship. He smiled back shyly. They'd both told him to quit being so introverted and accept compliments in the spirit in which they were handed out, but there always seemed something wrong about compliments to him. And he received them far too often than was comfortable.

"Tea?"

"No thank you," he murmured politely. The apartment was decently furnished, easing the fears which had been founded during his trip up the stairwell, and he perched on the end of a leather chair. Antique, nineteenth century, American. "I'm interested in hearing about your complaint, Ueda-san."

The wrinkled man poured himself a cup of tea, the steam curling around his age-shaking fingers and fogging up the tiny spectacles that seemed on the point of falling off a sharp nose. "My grandson…Sumeragi-sama. I'm quite sure he is possessed."

He blinked. "Ah…possessed?"

Vigorous nodding. "You have heard of Toshiko Isamu? My grandson. Ten years old…plays violin like the young gods themselves."

He'd heard the name mentioned. Toshiko…Isamu. A concert. A flyer. A passing word. Child genius?

"I see," he murmured, taking mental notes. "And what of Isamu-san?"

"He's been playing ever since he could differentiate a bow from the actual instrument." The old man's voice swelled. Family pride. "Took from the finest masters. Toured Asia. Been reviewed in all the newspapers in Japan…on the news. Everything."

"Ah." He wasn't quite sure where this was going. "I take it your family is proud of him, then?"

"His father disagrees, of course." Lips set in a thin, disapproving line. "When I tell him music is good for the soul."

"What do the parents think?"

The old man snorted. "His son is a national celebrity and all the man can think of is his own selfishness. Refused to let Isamu take lessons. Refused this, refused that. The only thing keeping the poor boy on career is the money he makes."

"And his mother?"

The mouth shut with an audible snap. "His mother is dead." The tone of voice suggested that this subject was one he should not further pursue if he valued his health.

Another mental note. "You say Isamu tours?"

"Of course." As if it was the most commonplace piece of knowledge in the world. Of course he should know. Where, when, what countries. "Has been, since he was four years old. The European tour was his last to date, though he is planning another one through Asia scheduled for Spring of next year…He's quite popular in China, you know."

"Ah…of course. And what exactly is the…ah…problem?"

A slight pause, as if the angelic grandson could be hurt even with the revelation out in the open. "He…suffers fits. On and off stage. The last one was quite violent after the last concert and he had to be rushed to the hospital…the doctors say it is no kind of epilepsy they've seen before. So we called you in, Sumeragi-sama."

"We?"

"His father and I." A sigh. "The one thing we agree on."

He took his leave politely, bowing profusely to the spectacled old man, hurrying down the dim stairwell as quickly as he could. The sun was bright outside when he emerged, warming the black gloves. One last look back at the apartment.

A puzzling case. Most puzzling.

If there were a spiritual disturbance he would have felt it…but there was none. A ten year old musical genius…a family wealthy enough to hire him for the case…

[if I can't go back to where I have been]

"Subaru-kun! What a surprise."

He hadn't even realized where he was, wandering through the streets. He'd known the clinic was in the vicinity, but…Had he been dazing off into space? Hokuto was always admonishing him about that. That, and blushing.

The kindly veterinary face smiled happily at him from the entranceway to the clinic.

He blushed.

Deep chuckle. "You look positively hungry. How about lunch?"

He felt the various shades of rose continue to build, but managed to keep his voice steady. "That would be nice, Seishirou-san."

"Oh, most excellent. I was just locking up. Give me a moment, please."

[you say anything  
whatever you like to say to me]

Do you like the sakura blossoms?

Do you?

Do you know?

There are corpses buried under the sakura tree.

There are corpses corpses buried corpses buried under the sakura tree.

[all I can hear is a voice from a dream]

They went to Tokyo Tower again, because they felt like it. Or rather, he felt like it and so did Seishirou, and by mutual unspoken agreement they decided to go.

"How was work?"

He shrugged a little, taking a drink of the tea. Green tea, chilled. Hokuto made it better. It was too sweet here.

"I took a new job today."

"Oh? Do tell."

"Actually there isn't much to tell. Not yet."

"Ah." Sipping the green tea. "This is much too sweet, don't you think Subaru-kun? Hokuto-chan's is much better."

He blinked.

"Ne…Seishirou-san?"

There were flocks of birds winging their way around the iron railings in the noon sunlight. He couldn't make out what kind of birds they were.

[say anything  
you can dry my every tear]

"Have you ever heard of Toshiko Isamu?"

Forehead wrinkled a a little in concentration as he took a bite of his noodles. "The name sounds familiar…concert violinist?"

"Young, child prodigy?"

Thin lips smiled, honey-brown eyes crinkling at the corners beneath the familiar black-rimmed glasses. "Much like you, my dear Subaru-kun."

"Seishirou-san!" He felt the familiar heat settle itself around his face.

"Sorry," the veterinarian said, not sounding sorry at all. "What does little Isamu have to do with the case?"

"He is the case. I spoke with his grandfather today…they want me to exorcise him."

One eyebrow went up. "Indeed. Are you going to do it?"

He sighed. The sunlight felt heavy. Maybe he shouldn't have worn the silk jacket today. "Not without knowing more of the facts, no. I've never met the child, so I don't even know if I need to perform the ritual or not. The grandfather insists the boy is possessed with some sort of spirit. The rest of the family…"

"That was his grandfather," Seishirou said. "That you spoke with this morning?"

"Yes. It was…interesting."

"I'd think it would be." A familiar box of cigarettes pulled from a hidden pocket. The click of a lighter. "I'd think his grandfather would be living in better conditions, given that young Isamu pulls in a fortune with every concert he plays. The apartments by the clinic aren't exactly…up to date."

The stairway played out in his memory, and he rubbed one hand along the cuff that had touched the wall. "Saa."

"I see we agree." Lazy rings of smoke, curling up from the long white thin stick between the two long brown thin fingers. Beautiful fingers.

[kazatta ai mo toki no suna ni kieru made  
_holding onto love until it vanishes in the sands of time_]

He blushed again. Seishirou's eyebrow went up another few notches.

"I suppose I should do some research on Isamu-kun before I continue this." Trying to cover up his embarrassment. "Do you know of any of his music, maybe that I can listen to?"

"It's no good trying to exorcise spirits from recordings," the deep voice murmured, almost seductively. Long lashes fluttered down concealingly. The eyes were almost…hungry?

"Seishirou-san!"

A light laugh and the predatory gaze was gone, replaced by the friendly veterinarian. He shivered.

"I have a few compact discs you can have." A dismissive wave of the hand. "Flimsy things, compact discs. I collect LP's as much as possible, you know, but Isamu is so young they don't print the things anymore. A pity."

"If you didn't mind, could I-"

"Anything for you, darling." A smirk.

"Seishirou-san!"

"Joking, joking." A placating smile, another wave of the hand. "I'll drop by after work and give them to you, ne? If you could tell Hokuto-chan I'm coming…"

"She'll be delighted." It would be nice, the three of them, having dinner together. They hadn't done that in a long time. And it would take Hokuto's mind off her jilted love. He wondered briefly if she had finished shopping yet, then reminded himself it was Hokuto…she had probably just started, dashing from store to store, turning the salespeople's knowledge of the financial world upside down.

He wondered if she was wearing the cat ears.

"Splendid. And now I'm sorry to be going, but it is almost thirteen hundred and I need to get back to the customers…there's a dog with a nasty sprain and the owner is most distraught."

He almost laughed. "I'm going home then, Seishirou-san. I'll see you tonight?"

For a moment he thought the tall man would bend down to kiss his hand, but the moment passed and the clock struck the hour. Clear golden eyes smiled.

"Definitely. Expect me around...oh...eighteen thiry. Have a safe trip home, Subaru-kun."

[kanashimi ga kieru made  
_until the grief vanishes_]

"I'm home!"

As he expected, the apartment was empty. He removed his silk jacket carefully, hung it on the back of a chair and set his backpack gently on the floor leaning against the chair leg. The ticking of the kitchen clock was loud in the silence. It was only a little past one thirty.

There was a note on the refrigerator tacked up with a smiling cat magnet, her curly, bubbly hirigana contrasting sharply with messy kanji. He'd always wondered how one person could have two types of completely different handwriting.

  
_Subaru-kun! You're probably home early from work again…ha…expected you would be with a rushed case like that. Don't worry, I'm not doing any shopping for you. I'll drag you along next time I feel you need a change of wardrobe. Should be back by 1500. See you in a bit! -Neesan_

  
He hardly ever called her neesan. But she signed all her notes like that. A mark of supremacy? Just another one of her whims? She had a lot of whims.

There were little cat faces all over the note complete with whiskers and paw prints. She'd drawn a little girl cat with long feathery lashes and a little boy cat at the edge of the page and they were kissing. He smiled at that.

[shijin no namida wa kioku ni nagarasete  
_shedding the tears of a poet in memory_]

The kitchen still smelled like this morning's tea, and on a whim he opened the refrigerator, poured a bit of the leftover cold tea into a cup and sat there sipping it, watching the clouds.

He must have fallen asleep, because the next thing he knew the key was turning in the lock and a bundle and several boxes clattered into the apartment, along with a pair of cat ears and a cheerful voice.

"Oi, Subaru! I'm hooooome!"

Yawning. He looked at the clock. Three thirty-six. Still afternoon, then. There were creases in the sleeves of the silk shirt where he had crumpled it in his sleep. Rubbing his eyes and trying to erase the traces of sleep from his voice before he addressed the whirlwind.

"Did you get anything exciting?"

"When do I NOT get anything exciting?" The boxes and parcel followed her energetic aura into the kitchen, where she proceeded to dump them on the table and open them, pulling things out, the clothes spilling over into his lap like her voice spilled over into the air, making it alive.

"Look! And I got these…and THESE….aren't they just precious? And oh! Subaru-kun, I thought you'd like this. Since you listen to that classical stuff so much."

"I do?"

The plastic cover of a compact disc case was dropped into his lap, the afternoon light glossing over it, blinding. "Well, yeah, I mean you never listen to the latest stuff on the radio anyway." Pulling out another compact disc and waving it in his face. The title flashed before his eyes, holding no meaning.

"What is that?"

"THAT," Hokuto said, "is Chara's latest release, which I am going to go listen to once you stop clutching onto all my clothes and give them back to me so I can put them in my room properly."

"Ah." Dazedly letting her collect the piles off of him and staring rather faintly at the title on the case cover.

"Toshiko Isamu?"

"You don't like it? The little kid on the cover looks cute."

"No…no, I like it just fine."

[kooritsuita toki ni furuete  
_shiver in the time that was frozen_]

Seishirou arrived at six thirty, just like he said he would, carrying a small package, a bundle of roses, and a bottle of wine.

"Sei-chan!"

He waited patiently while his sister fussed, hovered around the older man. She was wearing the gauzy outfit he had seen in one of her shopping boxes this afternoon. It was bright pink and satin white and floated around her like a cloud. There was a bright pink halo to match, bobbing above her hair, seeming to trace her movements in slow motion with delicate grace.

He accepted the package and roses with a slight blush.

"Well, really, Subaru-kun, you don't have to be embarrassed…it's not like you weren't expecting this."

"Not wrapped! And not roses!"

"Ooh…presents!" Hokuto mock-leered. "What is it? Open it!"

The shiny wrapping peeled off like candy paper, crinkling, and the plastic covers sparkled in the light.

"Hey! That's the same kid…on the cover of that one I got you today! Well. Didn't know you liked him." She sounded pleased.

"I…ah…" he managed, clutching the boxes.

"He's Subaru-kun's new case at work," Seishirou said, removing his jacket and letting Hokuto drape it gracefully around a hangar. "Subaru-kun wanted to listen to some of his music, that's all."

"Oh." She sniffed, throwing the coat into the closet with a dramatic gesture. The hangar landed on the rack with a click and a pinging sound. "Well, in that case how boring. Always work, work, work. Really! You two!"

"We men must make a living to care for beautiful women like you." Sly smile under the glasses.

She punched his shoulder. "Silly! Come into the kitchen. You can help me cook."

He listened to her lively chatter drift away, his low baritone murmured responses following, felt something light and airy float out of the room along with them and leaving him simply sitting there in dead air holding the cheap plastic case.

Well, he might as well make himself useful.

[You say anything kizutsuke au kotoba demo  
_but the words hurt_]

The stereo set in the small study offset from the kitchen hadn't received much use since she'd brought it home a year ago, proclaiming that it looked lonely in the store window and needed a home. It was another one of her whims. It had been the latest state-of-the-art model then, black and silver and shiny. He brushed the dust off of it, wondering. He didn't like machines, as a rule. Didn't understand them.

A click as he fumblingly managed to open the CD player, insert the disc. Pressed the pointy key that he guessed made the disc play. There was a satisfying whir and he picked up the box, looking at the back cover as he squirmed onto the slick black leather chair behind the study desk. He couldn't remember the last time the chair or the desk had been used. There was a thin layer of dust on the mahogany wood surface and he brushed it away, sneezing.

Dust particles settling as the music began.

[say anything]

It was something soft, with strings. Violin, he supposed. He didn't know much about classical music, or any music for that matter. He had never really bothered with it. All he really knew was that Hokuto's taste bordered on eclectic and amusing, and he tolerated her choices blaring throughout the apartment at odd hours of the day and night.

Arms came around him quite suddenly and he squeaked.

"Beethoven," the deep voice murmured. "Interesting choice. One of mine?"

"Sei-Seishirou-san!"

"No, this one looks new. Did you buy it, Subaru-kun?"

"I-iie," he managed, cheeks burning like fire at the touch of the older man's arms around his neck. The arms showed no inclination of leaving but instead draped themselves more comfortably onto his shoulders.

"Romance in G Major," the almost amused tone continued. "Romance? How thoughtful of you, Subaru-kun."

"I, no! Err, that is, I didn't! I mean, I-"

He stopped, not quite sure of exactly what he wanted to say, and in the pause, Seishirou laughed.

"It's quite all right, Subaru-kun." The arms withdrew suddenly, and he breathed a relieved sigh, yet feeling strangely…

[just tell me all your sweet lies]

"What do you intend to do with this boy?"

"I don't know," he admitted, mind moving on to more practical matters. "I have to meet him…I should meet his father as well. His grandfather seems rather…"

"Odd?"

Green eyes meeting golden with a start. "How did you know?"

Cigarette drawn out of the box with an almost nonchalant grace, twirled elegantly between tapered fingers. The amused smiling eyes through the crown of flame that splashed the dark visage with ephemeral light. "Let's say…I did some research on my own."

He didn't know whether to feel pleased or resentful. "Hokuto-chan doesn't like you smoking in here, you know."

"I'm doing it all for you, of course," the voice continued, as if he hadn't spoken. "Wouldn't it be much easier if I helped? As a trained assistant, I mean. I am trained in your arts as well, you know."

"Yes," he murmured. The orchestra swelled in the background. "I can do it on my own, Seishirou-san."

"I know," the voice returned, and for once there was no artifice in the tone, nothing insinuating or sultry or anything but simple and plain truth. "But I also want to help you. May I?"

For a long moment he couldn't answer. Golden eyes…gods, he could drown in those eyes. So beautiful…there was something in their depths that he couldn't read. That he couldn't read, but wanted to so desperately, if he only could see…

[say anything enji kirenai kokoro ni  
_to the heart that cannot lie_]

"Ah, well." He felt the moment escaping him like a stray wisp of breath, reached out to catch hold of it and found nothing but air. The smiling veterinarian was back, long frame lounging in an impossibly delicate way over on Hokuto's expensive leather couch. "Have it your way. It is your case, after all."

"Boys! Dinner's ready! Mou! You two!" The door flew open. "What are you-oh! Am I interrupting something?" Her eyes were laughing, mysterious.

"Hokuto-chan!"

"Merely discussing the technique of Subaru-kun's latest client." Waving a hand at the stereo. "Subaru-kun is of the opinion that his staccato notes are a bit too short for this type of piece."

"Oh, yeah right. Subaru doesn't know squat about classical music. He told me so this afternoon!" Turning triumphant eyes at them. "You can't fool me, Sei-chan!"

He rolled his eyes at them. He couldn't help it.

[you say anything]

The sakura blooms every year because of the corpses buried underneath.

Do you know?

Sakura blossoms are white. Pure white. Like snow.

Pure white like snow pure pure white like snow.

Sakura.

[you can dry my every tear]

He managed to secure an appointment with Toshiko Isamu's father for the next day, was up early as usual listening to her bustle around in the kitchen. When he entered, this time in checkered shirt and moss-green tie up pants with hat and gloves to match, she simply smiled at him.

"Looking good today, Subaru-kun."

"Lovely tea, Hokuto-chan."

She beamed at him. "Scat! It's cleaning day today. I bought a nice air freshening thing I want to try out in the kitchen."

He took that as his cue to leave, beginning the walk towards the nearest subway station. The engine of a car purred behind him, and he stopped.

"Would you like a ride, Subaru-kun?"

Arguments were pointless, as usual, so he got in. He was smiling behind the glasses, neat in black suit and white shirt and thin black tie. If he had been a few years older he could have been a father, taking his teen-aged son to school.

Except he wasn't a few years older, and he wasn't a father, but a friend taking his teen-aged friend to work, his friend who was too young to be doing what he did, and he was…

Was what?

"Where to, Subaru-kun?"

"Eh? Oh!" He flushed, caught off-guard. "You can drop me off at the subway. It's rather out of your way."

"Nothing is out of my way, for you."

"Seishirou-san!"

The weather was perfect and the car rode smoothly. It was awhile before the buildings began to thin out to countryside and he looked at the map in his hand. "It should be around here…a western-style house, he said. A few kilometers after we see the shrine."

_Yokohama Shrine,_ the sign post read, pointing up a narrow pathway between the trees that had closed in around the narrowing lane almost imperceptibly.

"We're close."

"Would that be it?"

A massive gated thing in the distance, surrounded by dense trees and bushes and green foliage bursting into bloom in the midmorning sun. It looked like a wild garden of the gods, of the type that he had read in fantasy books when he was little, hoping his grandmother wouldn't catch him filling his mind with what she called "wild notions."

"Yes, I'm sure that's it." Car purring through the open gates. "You can drop me off here, Seishirou-san…"

"Nonsense." A quick pat to his shoulder as he got out, the key turning in the ignition and the car shuddering to a halt. "You don't know how long this could take."

"I-"

"No arguments, Subaru-kun, and that's final. Besides, don't you want to go out to lunch today? It's so beautiful outside. I thought maybe a picnic in Ueno Park. I brought sandwiches."

"I-uh, that is-"

"So it's settled then!" A friendly squeeze on the shoulder. "Let's go in and meet your client, shall we?"

[akari no kieta  
_the lights have gone out_]

Toshiko Kenji was a big man in his late thirties, it looked like, eyes slanted and calculating, lank hair falling in strands across a sweaty forehead. He did not offer them a seat, looking suspicious when he carefully introduced himself and his assistant.

"I hired you of course," he said carelessly, wiping his face with a white handkerchief. When it came away from his face there were brown spots there. "You are the best, so I hear."

"What is the nature of your son's illness, please?" he said politely, jotting down date and time in a small yellow notebook. There was a cat on the cover. A smiling one, with a bow behind one ear.

"He faints." Blunt, sharp. "After performances, once during. Last time had to be carried out by a stretcher."

"Yes…his grandfather told me so, I believe."

He could feel Seishirou's eyes, sharp.

"Grandfather. Hn." The musky smell of a cigar being lighted, a puff of smoke. "I wouldn't believe that bastard for all the money in the world. He's just in it for himself."

"Your son seems to bring in a fair amount of money," he said. Keeping his voice neutral. The chandeliers dangling from the ceiling swung and sparkled. Behind him he could see Seishirou taking an interest in what seemed to be crystal ornaments on the western-style mantlepiece.

What was that? Something about crystal.

Crystal strings?

The sweet, high note of a violin pierced the air. A single note, sustained. Then movement. Scales.

"E flat major," Seishirou said softly. "Smooth tone. I take it that is your son?"

"So you're a classical music buff, eh? That's him. Practices all the time." There was contempt in the man's tone, the kind of contempt which made it very clear that young boys should either be outside with a ball or inside with a textbook and a pen. Either or. "I don't see much of him these days."

"You don't go on tour with him?"

A snort. "I stay here and mind my own business. What he does on tour is his affair."

The violin began again, and he recognized the tune that had been playing last night in the darkened study.

Romance.

[tooritsugita hibi ni dakareru  
_embraced by the days that have gone_]

"Quite remarkable," Seishirou murmured.

He tucked the pen behind his ear, closed the notebook. "That was most helpful, Toshiko-san. If it wouldn't be too much trouble…could I have a few words with your son?"

"He doesn't take to strangers. But that's none of my concern."

The violin grew louder, the notes more distinct, through the passages of the house, floating on the motes of sunlight glancing through skylights and the odd window. A strange house. There were too many dark places. He couldn't see.

Crystal strings, vibrating in the dark. He reached out to touch.

"Isamu?"

The violin stopped.

The crystal moment shattered.

The door opened.

[kazatta ai mo toki no suna ni kieru made  
_holding onto love until it vanishes in the sands of time_]

He was a slim boy, eyes large and dark in a face that was too thin and too sad, as mournful as the crystal notes which sang out on the strings.

"Could I ask you a few questions, Isamu-kun?"

A mute shake of the head.

"Just about your…fainting…at your concerts. Do you feel unwell before or afterwards?"

Panic in the wide eyes. A slight quickening of breath.

"He doesn't like you," his father announced. "You'd better leave."

It had been worth a try. "All right, Isamu-kun." Sketching a slight bow. "I'm sorry to have bothered you."

The violin began again after a brief moment, and he could see the crystal strings in the darkness, wet with the pearls of tears.

[time may change my life  
but my heart remains the same to you]

"Doesn't look like we learned much today." Agonizing over his hurriedly jotted notes. The compact disc was back in the player again. His nerves were raw, and he needed the music. "If only the boy would talk to me."

"Some are like that," the deep voice only sounded bemused. "He'll learn. Especially being a public performer."

"I suppose so." Looking out the window at the sunset and wondering when Hokuto would come home. She had finished her cleaning, apparently, from the strange smell in the kitchen, and gone out shopping. There had been another neko note on the refrigerator, telling them both to wait until she came home and then she would make dinner.

"What are you going to do now?"

He sighed. "It would be easier if I had any sort of guide…but there's nothing. Nothing at all…for all I know the boy's problems could be purely medical. Maybe the doctors didn't look hard enough."

One eyebrow quirked. "I'm a doctor. Should I examine him?"

"Seishirou-san!"

Seishirou laughed. "I'm joking, of course. Though the family in general seems eccentric enough to allow that kind of thing."

The soft music swept under him, lifting him up on wings of air and waiting sleep, the sunlight fading. He yawned.

"I wonder…never mind. I wish…"

There was only the brief whisper of air as a warning and then the arm slid around him.

"Seishirou-san!"

"You don't like this?" Murmured in his ear, words falling one by one like raindrops, soft and tantalizing, forbidden fruit. "Should I move?"

"I-I don't-"

"It's all right," the voice continued. "It's all right, Subaru-kun."

He drew a long shuddering breath. "Seishirou-san-"

"Close your eyes," the voice whispered. "Close your eyes…"

[time may change your heart  
my love for you never changes]

So gentle.

There were words in his mind, words coming to the forefront before his eyes, bright sparkles of light that would take shape and bloom into golden flowers if only he would speak them, open his mouth and utter them so they could take root and grow, but he couldn't. Because he was afraid.

[I believe if time passes, everything turns into beauty]

"Don't be afraid."

He jumped a little. A low chuckle, and soft lips grazed his ear.

"When I'm with you, Subaru-kun…you don't need to be afraid."

"Why-" the words made no sound. "Why do you do this? Seishirou-san."

"Why?" A whisper along the plane between silence and the noise of falling sunrays. "You know the reason why."

Fingers at his cheekbone, lips moving down the line of his jaw, and he shuddered in delicate anguish as the exquisite sensations covered him and he was drowning, drowning.

[if the rain stops, tears clean the scars of memory away]

"Because, Subaru…"

The last light of day.

"Because I…"

Crystal strings.

[desire is embraced in a dream]

Sakura blossoms are white. Pure white. Like snow.

Do you know why these are pink?

Do you know why?

The blood…

There are corpses buried under the sakura tree.

If you and I. If you. If you and I can meet again.

[but my mind is still in chaos, and...]

There were crystal strings in the darkness and warm breath and skin on skin and only silence filled the empty room.

[akari no kieta  
_the lights have gone out_]

There are corpses.

Under the sakura tree, the blossoms are pure white. Like snow.

If you and I can meet again.

So today, I'll…

[sawameki dake ga kokoro o sashite  
_only a heartbeat stabs my soul_]


	2. Spaces

Tokyo Babylon is property of CLAMP, Shinshokan Comics, MOVIC, and Sony Music Entertainment Japan Inc. This is a non-profit work of fanfiction. No copyright infringement is intended. Please do not repost without permission.

Lyrics and translation from _Forever and Ever_, by Luna Sea, copyright 1996

lordofmerentha@yahoo.com

**TOKYO BABYLON  
SPACES  
Sumeragi Hokuto**

  
She came home that night to find that something was different, though neither of them looked or sounded like something had gone wrong. But she knew.

She always knew.

The meal was a light one, whipped up in ten minutes and left simmering on the stove as Seishirou went to wash his hands. French bread, fresh from the oven, whipped potatoes, European style, and Chinese cut vegetables.

He looked up her. Green eyes meeting green.

"Hokuto-chan…"

Footsteps from the bathroom, a cheerful grin, innocent eyes.

"Let's eat. I'm starving."

[saa me wo tojite  
_so close your eyes_]

Darkness covering the land like thick, liquid, black honey, trickling slowly through the air and crystallizing it, sealing secrets within secrets within secrets.

She couldn't sleep.

She always left her door open at night, feeling that if she closed it she was closing herself within her own suffocating womb, a coffin of a room. So she left it open. The kitchen was quiet and beyond she could hear the rustling of his sheets as he twisted in his sleep.

Or perhaps he could not sleep either.

Climbing down out of bed, bare feet padding on the cold tiles, she rapped silently on the screen.

"Subaru-kun?"

A sigh.

Concerned, she slid the screen open, hearing him thrash in the dark. "Subaru-kun, are you all right? Are you sick?"

"Go away."

The throaty whisper, from the far side of the room. She jolted, stopped.

"Su-Subaru?"

"Go away, neesan."

He never called her neesan.

[kodoku na yoru wa boku wo yowaku suru  
_loneliness in the night is making me weak_]

The green eyes were luminous in the dark, like a cat's but larger, speaking of secrets.

"Go away…onegai."

His eyes, staring at her. Her eyes. The same.

"Ah." A sigh, barely whispered, a young tree bending in the wind, a slender strand of crystal humming with invisible waves.

Her own bed was an indistinguishable mound in the darkness but she couldn't sleep after she had crawled back into it, hearing the twisting from the bed in the darkened room, feeling his pain with her own heart, wondering and weeping.

Darkness.

[dream on yurusu nara aishite hoshii  
_dream on if a yearning for loving is forgiven_]

"Ohayo."

He hadn't slept much last night, she knew. Neither had she, but she didn't have to work. She smiled cheerily at him and he managed to throw a tired smile back at her, eyes sliding half shut as he climbed up on the chair to accept his usual morning tea.

"I put a little sugar into it," she informed him, breezing by him to turn on the rice cooker, watching the steam of the teapot curl lazily into the cool morning air. "Should help keep you awake at least for the morning."

"Ah." A crooked grin, though the eyes did not smile. "Arigatou."

"Don't mention it, Subaru-kun." The tea set was shaped like cats too, a mother cat and her six kittens. She'd seen it in the window of a small knick-knack corner shop, heard it almost calling out to her with little mewling cat voices, and she had to get it. It wasn't that expensive. Really.

"You still have work today, right?" A nod. "Why don't we go for lunch? I'm going downtown, so I can meet you wherever you finish at about noon. How does that sound?"

"Ah…fine…"

"Or," she said, her voice sliding into the deep, sultry tone that she mimicked so easily, "if you're having lunch with someone…else, I could wait." Raising one eyebrow at him, striking a pose.

She'd never known one person's face could flicker through so many shades of red so quickly. "No! No! I, err, I mean-"

She almost collapsed from laughter. "Subaru-kun, I'm kidding. You know that."

He gulped down his tea. "I need to go now! I'll meet you at noon. The clinic?"

"Wonderful!" She pinched his cheek and was rewarded by his yelp of surprise. "Ja."

The door banged shut.

The teapot whistled again.

[so bright kagayaite shinjitsuzukete  
_the light shining so bright I will keep believing_]

There was still some tea left at the bottom of the cup, and she hated letting good tea go to waste. Letting the last vestiges drip onto her waiting tongue, standing in the warm ray of sunlight, she pondered her options. There was always school, but she hadn't been for two weeks and her ex-boyfriend's best friend's girlfriend was sending her the notes, so she needn't bother. She'd cleaned the apartment yesterday, hanging out the rugs to dry in the sun and sprinkling the floor with the new lilac powder, which turned out not to smell nearly as lilac-y as the commercial and package had proclaimed. Such a disappointment. She wondered if she could take it back for a refund.

That left shopping.

Ah….she'd been shopping the day before, but one could always find new and innovative products. And they did need a new set of towels…

Laughing at nothing in particular, she swung the teakettle in a merry arc, pouring herself a steaming cup of tea before placing it gently back on the stove. The cat face smiled at her.

It was such a lovely morning.

[yozora ni tsunagareta hoshitachi no you ni  
_linked like the stars of the sky_]

Downtown Tokyo. She moved like a wraith between the crowds of people, murmuring friendly pardons and flashing smiles at elderly passersby. Most of them smiled back. Sunrays bounced off the streets and the front glass windows, chasing each other in the invisible spaces above her head. She wondered what they said, when they caught each other.

Aimless wandering. What was there to buy? She picked out a nice fluffy set of towels, paying for them and taking the bag which the salesclerk handed her. Carefully folding the towels that had been stuffed inside. One by one. Hands caressing the material. They were not cat towels, for once, since Subaru would be using them too and he tolerated her odd habits often enough.

He tolerated a lot of things about her. She supposed that was endearing.

Quite endearing, her little brother.

The sunlight whispered to itself in the spaces around her again, and she cocked her head, listening. Flirting with sunshine?

[forever and ever itsu no hi mo  
_someday_]

She usually didn't come to this district for shopping…the fashions were too straightforward and the clothing much too expensive, even for her. Subaru should be glad he had a sister who shopped for bargains. She could spot a bargain from a kilometer away, and these stores gave off that wealthy air of arrogance and pompous grandeur which warned her bargain senses that there was nothing of the kind to be had here.

Well, no harm in just looking.

Peeking in through the glass. Window shopping. Such a pity that red dress weren't adorned with feathers or beads or even the odd wing or two. It would look so much nicer that way. Oh…a green scarf. That would look good with one of the outfits she bought yesterday, but there had been a green scarf at the shop yesterday at about half the price. Definitely not.

She passed with a sigh, was about to turn the corner when something caught her eye and she stopped, drew back, curious.

Oh, how could she have not noticed it before? Hidden almost in the corner, such a marvelous dress. It was tucked away behind a flashy black-sequined evening gown and a simple silk red nightgown and a pair of silver stiletto heels, as if it were an afterthought, a way to fill extra space. Her hand moved to the glass and she pressed her nose to it, feeling it almost calling her.

It was simple yet beautiful, much simpler than what she usually wore, but with a certain flair that screamed defiance, difference. All shimmering material that reflected the lights and shadows off the glass, reflecting them back at her. Pale pink, like sakura petals…

[forever and ever kono omoi  
_this memory_]

The tiny bells clinked when she opened the door to the shop, and the young salesclerk with the two pigtails and false smile bowed slightly as she entered, the breaths of the playing sunlight trailing after her.

"Ohayo gozaimasu! Beautiful day, isn't it?"

The salesclerk blinked. Clearly, not many of the store's customers held the same enthusiasm for shopping as she did. Pity.

"May I help you, ojousan?"

"How much is that pink dress in the window, please?"

The young woman blinked. "Pink dress? We don't have any pink dress in the window."

"Oh yes you do!" Cheerfully taking the woman's hand, pulling her over to the display. She could feel the woman's stunned surprise. She grinned wickedly.

"Oh…ah…that one?" The salesclerk sounded faint. "I'm…I'm not sure. Let me check, please."

The woman scurried off and she stared up at the dress, reaching out a hand to touch the satiny material, seeming to glow with its own inner light in the darkness of the corner space…

"The dress is 22800 yen," the clerk called from across the room. Afraid to come over by her again? She blinked. My, expensive.

She wouldn't buy. Of course not. She just wanted to…

"Any way I could try it on?"

The dress was soft against her skin, a layer of pale gossamer material above the satin floating in the wafts of current from the vent in the far wall. Twirling in the full-length mirror, gracefully, like a ballerina. The garment fell in graceful folds from her shoulders from twin thin silk straps, folds of satin draping slightly over her breasts and then continuing downwards in a straight skirt. So unlike what she liked to wear, yet…

[out from my chaos to grace]

It called her, like the tea set had.

She couldn't buy it. It was 22800 yen. Subaru would have a fit.

She twirled again, imagining herself wearing a pair of emerald heels, with a matching emerald purse and long emerald gloves, her hair done up in an emerald tie to match, the soft pink of the dress contrasting with vivid green, like her eyes.

Really, it was much too expensive. She fingered the material, feeling it caress her hand. She'd always wanted a satin dress. Her taste in fashion might be eccentric, but there had always been that longing in the back of her mind for that one dress, that one perfect dress, the dress that would transform her from a girl into a woman with one glance.

She had kimonos in the back of her closet somewhere, but those didn't count. Everyone wore kimonos.

Satin whispered against her ankles as she paraded across the dressing room and back, imagining her arm through the arm of a handsome man, a lover, perhaps. Maybe they'd sit under the moon, feeding each other sweets in the silver spaces of night, telling each other secrets that the rest of the world could never, ever know. And maybe then they'd make love in the sweet smelling hot sakura darkness, finally falling asleep in the pink light of dawn.

That was what the dress was.

The pale pink dress, like sakura petals.

[kono mune no oku fukaku  
_the mistaken depths of this heart_]

"What's in the package?"

He was putting away instruments when she barged in, a half-wave and a broad smile, comfortable in his starched white doctor's coat. There was a parakeet in a cage above the hamster pen next to the door, and a dog with its leg in a splint gazed mournfully at her from the pen by the operating table.

"Oh…things," she said airily, giving a little twirl at the memory of the dress. She could still feel it floating around her. "How was work?"

"Fine, thank you." A clink as the box closed and he stripped off the plastic gloves, dropping them gingerly in the wastebasket. The faucet turned on.

"Subaru-kun's not here yet?"

"I was going to ask you that." Dripping hands enclosed in a white paper towel. "He was supposed to meet me here at noon."

She winked at him. "Double-date, hmm?"

He looked surprised. "What do you mean?"

"I asked him to lunch too." Cheerful grin. "I don't see much of my brother these days." She hopped up on the operating table, swinging her legs. There was a dirt stain on the hem of one of her socks. Brown on white.

If he had any objections to her sitting on the table, he didn't voice them, opening the cabinet and placing the instruments inside, shutting it neatly with a click. The cuckoo clock in the waiting room began to chirp.

The door opened.

"Seishirou-san? Oh! Hokuto-chan!"

She stuck out her tongue at him. He looked tired. There were dark circles under emerald eyes. "Forgotten about our date?"

Breathing hard, leaning against the door frame. Seishirou shrugged out of his lab coat.

"The job ran over. Gomen nasai!"

"I'm sure your sister forgives you." The coat found a home on the clothes rack by the sink. "Why don't you ask her what's in the shopping bag."

"Sei-chan!" Mock glare. He laughed.

[Close your eyes, open your mind, going back for a moment of time]

Back into the maddening crowds, swelling the streets to bursting. It was noon. Lunch time. Sour-looking businessmen, in drab suits clutching their rice boxes and chopsticks, pushing their way back to the office. Model-thin middle aged women with cigarettes between their fingers and too-red lipstick. The occasional punk teenagers with what looked like bad Jrock-ish fashion tendencies stuffing their hanbaagaas into their mouths and looking Jrock-ishly aloof. Seishirou pushed them along.

"Ramen?"

"Sounds fine."

The ramen shop was not too crowded and the lines were short. Pink silk flowers on the chipping fake wood table, in a plastic vase. She stabbed at her ramen with the chopsticks. Seishirou reached for the napkins.

"Anything new today, Subaru-kun?"

Mournful shake of the head. "This is pointless. If the family weren't so odd, I would just recommend them to the nearest hospital. This case isn't one I should be working on…"

"Odd?" Chopsticks paused halfway to her mouth.

"Not spiritually odd. If that was the problem, I'd only be too glad to take this on, but this has nothing to do with me at all." He pondered. "It seems to be a medical problem."

"Oh." The noodles were a tad bit too greasy. The water in her cup tasted like tap water. "Drop the case, then."

A sigh. "I can't…"

"Subaru-kun needs to learn to be less compassionate."

"Seishirou-san!"

A flirtatious smile. "Am I mistaken? What does your sister think?"

She stabbed the chopsticks in his direction, noodles flipping. "I think you need to learn to mind your own business, Sei-chan."

"Well, really. So defensive." Mildly taken aback. His eyes watched her with an odd gleam. The silk flowers in the plastic vase wavered slightly. The shop door opened and customers trickled in.

"Subaru-kun knows what's best for himself. Well, in matters of work, anyway. In other matters…that's a different story." She whapped him across the back of the head lightly, a sisterly pat. "Isn't that right?"

"Itai!"

He lounged in the tiny chair, a coiled cat. "Subaru-kun, you should stop working so hard."

"I'm not working hard!"

"Harder than you need to. What are you doing after lunch?"

Subaru blanched. "Uh…nothing?"

"Come walk with me." He leaned across the table, gaze intense. "We'll walk under the sakura trees. It will be romantic." Emphasis on the word.

Subaru blushed.

[take back the eternity and the hope you felt]

She smirked. "Ah…my cute little brother!" A gulp of water followed the rest of the ramen. "I think that's a WONDERFUL idea, Sei-chan!"

Thoughtful look. "You do? Actually, Subaru-kun, shouldn't you be studying? Maybe we should forego the walk, save it for another time."

"No! I mean, I don't have that much homework. Not really." Words tumbling out like the clumsy fall of pebbles skittering across wind-tossed lanes. "I mean-"

A low chuckle. "I'm teasing, Subaru-kun. We can let homework go for a day, can't we?"

Slow nodding. Subaru was never sure if he was being teased or not. She didn't blame him.

There were pink flowers on the plastic vase too, sketched in crude detail.

The door opened again, and the breeze blew little pieces of paper and cigarette butts inside the door. The vase of pink flowers tottered on the table. She watched in fascination.

"Excellent. Hokuto-chan, finished eating already?"

"Didn't have breakfast," she mumbled absently. The water was gone too. Had she really drunk it all that quickly?

A gleam across the glasses. "Ah."

The door blew open. Gust of smoke and grease scented wind. The vase toppled. Pink silk across the table, floating down towards the floor.

"Cheap things," Seishirou commented, picking up a flower. "They really should just leave off trying to decorate if they're going to be using things like this."

"Really."

[Even if it breaks me into pieces  
I want to keep believing, keep feeling till it ceases]

The Romance piece was playing on the stereo again and she could see his slim form huddled in the oversized chair, arms wrapping around himself as if to ward off the chill of the night.

"You should be in bed."

"I know," he said. "I have to get up early tomorrow."

The violin played on, mournful strings vibrating in the spaces of her memory.

"Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"I told you, I'm fine. Stop worrying."

"I'm your sister." A light hand on his shoulder. "I need to worry about you."

He flinched, a tensing of the muscles almost imperceptible, as if brushing invisible cobwebs from her touch, then relaxed. A tentative hand reaching up to cover hers.

"Thank you, Hokuto-chan."

She bent over, kissed him on the forehead. "If you ever need to talk…about anything…you-"

"I know," he murmured. "I'm going to bed in a little bit."

"Oyasumi, Subaru-kun."

She left the sliding screen partly open. The strings drifted out after her, murmuring quiet secrets. His eyes were closed.

[the eternity deep in my heart]

Darkness glides over the land in stained-glass spaces, filling bit by bit blood red and ochre yellow and deep violent blue until at last there is nothing except for the long, soft fall of sakura petals tinting the emerald land.

[forever and ever kanau nara  
_if my dream comes true_]

There were more people in the waiting room than usual, the animals restless.

"Sei-chan, I brought you some breakfast!"

Peeking in through the doorway. He was in his white coat and an operating apron, stethoscope around his neck, glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose. "I'm about to operate, Hokuto-chan. Could you put it in the refrigerator? I'll be out in half an hour."

She fumbled in her pocket for the key, slipped upstairs and into the small kitchen, opening the refrigerator. It was bare. No wonder he didn't like to spend any time at home. There was nothing to eat. She plunked the box of rice and the chilled tea into the empty space. It looked lonely.

He'd gotten a new sofa the other day. It was black, made of leathery velvet material and it felt so soft. She sat down gingerly, then bounced a few times. It was springy, too. She wondered if there was anything on television. Stretching out on the couch, listening to the buzzing of the televised voices in the background, like bumblebees buzzing around her head.

Blood-red eyes, an eagle's eyes, watching her. Listening. Waiting.

[if we surrender, we go under]

"Hokuto-chan? Wake up."

She yelped. Light across glasses, friendly eyes and smile. "Did you fall asleep watching television?"

There were no blood-red eyes after all. She blinked, yawned. "I guess so…your food is in the refrigerator. Really, Sei-chan! You need to go shopping more often!"

He shrugged. "I just eat out. It's easier."

"Mou!"

The sound of the microwave. "Thank you for bringing me food."

"Ah. Are your patients just waiting downstairs?"

"Patients?"

"The ones in the waiting room."

He chuckled. "Hokuto-chan, that was hours ago."

The clock read eleven twenty-six. She must have slept longer than she realized. But the couch was so comfortable…

"I suppose." How strange. "Oh! I have to get going!"

He caught her arm. "No lunch today?"

"I have homework…English test tomorrow and two papers due. Not today!" Slipping on her shoes at the doormat, she paused. "Oh…how was your date in the park yesterday with my brother?"

The laugh was a happy one. "It went perfectly, thank you. Subaru-kun and I are a perfect match, of course."

"Of course!" She grinned at him, standing with her hand reaching out for the doorknob. The smile fading.

He was watching her. The gaze was unreadable behind the glasses.

"Seishirou."

He didn't answer.

Her heels clacked loudly down the stairs to the clinic. They were new, a bargain along with the butterfly scarf and bright green dress that matched her eyes.

[even if it breaks me into pieces]

She was diagramming sentences when she heard him come in through the door, taking off his shoes and hanging his jacket up.

"Subaru-kun?"

"I'm home! What are you doing?" A brief flicker of distaste as he caught sight of her paper. "Oh. Homework."

She poked him in the stomach. He was wearing the red shirt and matching scarf and gloves she had bought him. "Shouldn't you be doing some of this too?" Waving the paper in his face.

"Ack!"

He came over to join her with his work, pencil making scratching noises on the paper. He was doing math.

"I'm going to try a preliminary tonight, I think."

She made a noise of agreement, frowning. She hated diagramming. "This case is taking longer than your other ones, isn't it?"

A sigh. "I don't know why…I don't know why I'm taking it."

"You know what's best, Subaru-kun." She smiled at him. He was so kind. It made her heart break. "I know you do."

A dipping of thick lashes over emerald eyes.

"I…yes."

She hated diagramming. Such a waste of time.

[so remember that  
body, soul, mind, blood, tears]

She'd promised she wouldn't bother him, but she never said she wouldn't peek in to see how he was doing. He didn't wear his robes tonight. She supposed that wasn't quite necessary, for a preliminary. He wasn't even sure if there he needed to do one, he had said. So many blank spaces in the equation.

Subaru was kneeling on the floor, breathing even, eyes closed. She focused on him, silent in the doorway, waiting for the crackle of power that would mean he was grasping for the onmyouji blood that lay within both of them, the source of which only he had been able to tame.

Sumeragi.

He moved, slightly. Hair fanned across his forehead in an invisible wind. Eyelashes fluttered.

"Om."

One slim hand reaching out slightly to grasp the empty air, bringing it back to himself.

"Om vajra dharma."

She felt the surge of power.

His eyes snapped open. Brilliant green.

"Om vajra dharma kiri shawa!"

She heard the scream but it did not echo, simply died away into dead air as the link snapped suddenly, and he had fallen to the ground, one arm supporting himself as he breathed harshly, sweating.

"Subaru!"

[dreams, love, pain, and joy  
all so precious, forever and ever]

"I'm all right." Taking her helping hand. "That just startled me, that's all."

"There was something there."

He gave her a searching glance. "You felt it too? Yes…strange. There was definitely something there, but it's all so confusing…."

"Here, let me get you water." His face was white, pale and sickly, beads of sweat matting his hair and trickling down his neck. She let him lean against the wall and trotted out to the kitchen.

The doorbell rang.

"Just a minute!" She handed him the water, and he took it with his eyes closed, gulping it down.

"Sei-chan!"

She let him in, taking his coat. Seishirou stepped into the apartment and stopped, eyes sharp. "Subaru working again?"

"He did a preliminary exorcism tonight. There's definitely something to be exorcised, that's for sure."

"Oh?" One eyebrow lifted. "Well. I hope it gets taken care of. I brought you some cakes from the corner store."

"Subaru-kun! Guess who's here!"

[tonight tabidatou hikari no naka e  
_tonight we are traveling into the light_]

The piece had been repeating over and over for hours on the stereo when she finally stepped out of the shower and finished diagramming the last few sentences. Strings, trembling in the air. Violins.

She put the papers away neatly in her folder and turned out the light, stepping out of the kitchen. The light in the study was dim and the door was open. She could hear soft voices from inside.

Eavesdropping was bad.

She couldn't hear what they were saying, the small black head in the big chair and the tall, lean form on the couch, holding quiet conversation. Idle chat? Neither of them were the type to engage in idle chat. The shadow that was her brother leaned forward, gesturing, and there was a low laugh.

Silence, then Seishirou murmured something. She saw him get up, moving like a fluid night wraith, making no sound. Subaru bowed his head. A hand rested on his hair.

She left them, gliding across the hallway to her own room. Undressing and pulling the wrapped package out of the shopping bag, feeling the fall of silk across naked flesh. The smell of the dress was a perfume of flowers. On a whim, she slid the dress over her head, feeling the satin cling to her skin once again.

The sound of strings drifted in ever so softly, and she raised one arm, took a step back. Imagining arms around her as she danced, dancing in the moonlight to the sound of romance and the drifting tumble of sakura petals.

[aa, kono melody wa kitto eien sa  
_ah, this melody is surely eternal_]

Sakura petals in the heady sakura-filled dark woman spaces, sakura-pink satin draping the curves of a woman's body and the rise and fall of voices from the open doorway with the rise and fall of the orchestra, like graceful flowers fluttering down towards the secret earth.


	3. Rain

Tokyo Babylon is property of CLAMP, Shinshokan Comics, MOVIC, and Sony Music Entertainment Japan Inc. This is a non-profit work of fanfiction. No copyright infringement is intended. Please do not repost without permission.

Lyrics and translation from _Rain_, by Glay, copyright 1994

lordofmerentha@yahoo.com

**TOKYO BABYLON  
RAIN  
Sakurazuka Seishirou**

  
[yume dake o kokoro ni dakishimete  
_in my heart I embrace only dreams_]

In the wintertime in Ueno Park where the sakura blooms, when the wind blows, the petals fall from the tree like rain.

[aa omoi de nara kirei ni kowarete  
_ah if only memories would end in beauty_]

"Ohayo, Seishirou-san!"

He felt the smile on the boy's face before he saw it, turning and waving at the black head peeking through the clinic door.

"Good morning, Subaru-kun. Off to work? Isn't this case taking a little long?"

The angelic face fell. Fall of an angel. "I know. I think…" he hesitated, then shrugged. "I'm going to perform the exorcism tonight. If the boy won't cooperate, I can't help him, but at least I can say I tried."

"So there is something."

Subaru nodded. "Something…I don't know what. Hokuto felt it too, that night we did the preliminary in the apartment before you arrived." He sighed. "Oh well."

He smiled. "Well, I hate to keep you from your work. No lunch today…I need to catch up on some paperwork. I'll see you tonight?"

"Tonight then." Subaru looked cheerful. "Ja ne."

"Have fun at work!" he called, but the door had already swung shut and he caught only a fleeting glimpse of the elegantly-clad figure hurrying down the street.

There flecks of dried blood on the white lab coat hanging on the coat rack. He wiped them away.

[madoromi ni kiete yuku kioku no sora o miageru  
_memories fade as I look towards the sky_]

It started to rain halfway through the morning, when he was taking the sick parakeet's blood pressure, and the dog in the cage started barking. The last patient had been a cat with heartworms, and there was a snake that had somehow injured itself fighting with its cage.

The pets that people kept.

Noon. Hanging the closed sign on the door, to keep customers away. Away, the bold hiragana printed on the plastic card. Will return at 1300. The inside of the clinic was warm and slightly humid.

Running water. Sharp instruments, one by one laid out on the operation table like miniature swords, fit weapons for a miniature army about to do battle. The glasses slid down his nose and he pushed them back up, standing, thinking, wondering.

A rustle, the cat turning over in its sleep.

He opened the cage door and stroked the limp fur softly. There was a rumble deep from the creature's stomach, even in sleep feeling the touch of a human hand. He smiled. The fur on top of the head between the eyes just above the nose was warm and velvety, like the touch of a woman's velvet dress.

It was so easy just to squeeze. Just one squeeze, and it was all over.

There was a piece of bone jabbing into his hand and he saw the blood dripping onto the floor. Made no move to stop it. Just watched it drip, drip, drip, onto the clean floor. He would have to mop it after he was done.

Stroking the back, watching the limp, lifeless body hang from his hand, a graceful fall of bloody velvet, as he detached it from the cage. The fur was so soft.

[daekirenai kodoku dake ga karada o tsukisashite  
_only an unbearable loneliness pierces my body_]

"What time did you tell them you'd be there?"

"Around seven. I didn't specify. It does give us time to eat first." Subaru lifted the chopsticks from his rice, stared at them speculatively, eyes going through the wood and into a private emerald world of his own imagination. "I…"

"Something's not right," he said, laying down his chopsticks. "What is it?"

Silence for a second. The chopsticks clinked against the bowl.

"Subaru-kun?"

"I can't…I can't feel…anything," the boy said at last. "I've talked to Isamu's father…I went and visited his grandfather today, just to make sure what I had was right. I talked to the boy himself…"

"It's not the boy, is it?"

"I don't want to hurt him," Subaru whispered. Dark, deep, fathomless eyes. "But I don't know what else I can-"

"If it bothers you that much," he said gently, "don't do it."

"I promised-"

"If it bothers you that much," he repeated, more firmly, "don't do it."

Watery eyes. "You know how it is, Seishirou-san. I can't not do it."

He sighed. "I know."

"It's like…the boy isn't there. When I try to reach into him…he's just not there." Frustrated hands gripped the table. "I don't know how to explain it…"

"Subaru-kun."

The boy blinked.

"Would it help if I came with you?"

[all I need is your light]

"Sei-Seishirou-san?"

"Just to observe of course," he said smoothly, groping in a pocket for his cigarette case. It seemed to have shifted during the walk to lunch. Ah. There it was. "I won't interfere, but I thought it might help to have someone you trust by your side. I'm driving you there as it is."

"H-Hontou?"

"Would I be asking if I didn't want to?" The lighter flared, and he exhaled the smoke into the air, drifting away like clouds of abstract light through stained glass.

Subaru's smile was sunlight through darkness, and he started as the boy grabbed his hand from the table, covering it with both of his. The palms were warm and soft and felt as pure as innocence, fallen innocence.

"Arigatou! Arigatou!"

He smiled at the boy, taking another drag of his cigarette, breathing in the smoke mixed with open air. "My pleasure." Looking closely at him.

Subaru blinked, then froze, then snatched his hands away, turning a brilliant shade of bright pink that Hokuto had always found so endearing. "Eh…gomen! Gomen nasai!"

He laughed. He couldn't help it.

"Shall we go?"

[I embrace your light, your memory]

The dripping of blood was loud in the stillness, the kind of blood that runs through the branches of the tress onto the leaves, dripping thickly down drop by drop into the pure white snow like flower petals.

[mou todokanai omoi o yume ni nurashite  
_drenching faraway memories in dreams_]

The mansion was as forbidding in the dark as it was in the light, which was no surprise. He stopped the car with a jolt and turned off the engine and unfastened his seatbelt, and Subaru was still staring out the window at the way they had come.

"Subaru-kun?"

The voice was soft, almost inaudible if he hadn't been listening for it. "I don't think…I should be here."

"We can go back if you like," he said. Placing one hand on the boy's slender shoulder, just enough to comfort. Just enough. "Tell the police the case was a dead end. You've done it before."

Fists clenched in the darkness.

He opened the car door, watching the dark windows of the house. Shoes crunching on not-quite-dry fallen leaves. He didn't close the door, simply waited.

The other door opened and he saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm ready," Subaru said. A sigh.

He smiled.

From somewhere in the brush beyond, a cat meowed softly.

[furisosogu ame ni kono mi o makasetemo  
_even if my body is defeated in the falling rain_]

"I won't interfere," the father said sullenly, still as closed-mouthed and dark looking as he remembered from the first meeting. A man like that could die of disease before long. It was unhealthy.

"Thank you," Subaru said, bowing. The man remained looking at him.

"Just don't harm the boy. He means a lot to me."

He turned on his heel and walked out. The door echoed behind him, shaking the air.

"A lot of money to you, you mean," he said softly. He could hear Subaru's silken clothing rustling behind him, but he did not turn around. There were miniature gargoyles on the pillars of the doorframe.

"Do you need help?"

"I think I can manage." Muffled voice. When he turned around, Subaru was kneeling on the floor tracing out the circle on the tile. "I hope this doesn't stain the tile."

"I'm sure it won't," he said absently, scanning the shelves of books for anything interesting. Management books, finance. Economics. Get-rich-quick.

He frowned. The Art of the Occult?

That was odd.

"What's wrong, Seishirou-san?"

Waving a negligent hand. "Oh, nothing. Just seeing what the man keeps around a house as big as this one."

A sigh of acknowledgment. "I know! Such a huge house…it must get lonely."

[can't you tell me now]

"You think so?"

Subaru straightened, adjusting the fall of a silk jacket. "There. All done."

"Where's the boy?"

"I sent his father to get him…" the eyes under the fringe of black lashes were haunted. "Seishirou-san…I-"

"You'll do fine," he comforted softly, crossing the room, laying one hand on the boy's shoulder. Long-fingered hand, like a spider. "I have faith in you."

"Arigatou…"

The moment slipped by like dripping time from the branches of a sakura tree, as he stepped closer, closer, to see the glint of light on fine ebony strands and smelled the musk that was uniquely of innocence and grief, and felt the trembling flesh under his fingers and the velvet skin so soft.

Trembling breath.

[all I need is your love]

"Subaru…"

There was a knock.

The moment vanished. The boy stepped away hastily, eyes downcast.

"Come-come in!"

The small body in the doorway was almost swallowed up by the darkness beyond as the door swung open and he could feel the darkness emanating from…somewhere. The darkness. The trembling. The entirely right and not-so-right feeling of the moment, seeping into his bones.

Just for a split second, and then it was gone.

"Seishirou-san?"

The smile back on the face, turn around. "It was nothing, Subaru. Just thinking."

"You froze," Subaru said softly. "Something's not right."

"No, I-"

Subaru rose swiftly, fluidly, from where he knelt, motioned the boy into the center of the circle. "Isamu…I need you to come here. I won't hurt you. Come to where I'm standing." Gloved hands, gesturing like a breath of wind through the night sky. White gloves, white like shrouds. Subaru's voice…so soft.

He remembered the velvet fur, stained with blood.

[can't you stop the rain]

"Good. Isamu, listen."

He watched, almost detached, as Subaru knelt, whispered in the small boy's ear, one hand on a shoulder. Boy to boy, creature to creature. Boys were like foxes, mercurial and changing, slipping away through the cracks of the owner's fingers.

One opening of the cage door too wide, and they were gone.

He could almost hear the crystal notes of the violin.

"Do you understand, Isamu?"

Cold strands pricked at the back of his neck and he saw Subaru stiffen, knowing he felt it too. He felt the strands thicken, lengthen, felt the black body start to form at the edge of his consciousness.

No. Not yet.

"Not yet…"

[hageshii ame no ato de waratte yo  
_smile after the pouring rain_]

A shiver of wind passed through Ueno Park, calling to him from the branches of the tree, the branches writhing and grasping like the hands of the dead, stained with the blood of the innocent.

[nureta kokoro ga hikisakareru mae ni  
_before it shreds my drenched heart to pieces_]

Subaru closed his eyes. There was a rush of scent, as of flowers opening in the late spring, when everything blossomed and ripened in the glowing sun, carpets of grass and sakura blossoms and the lean bodies of boys.

He waited.

"Om."

One word.

The boy cried out.

"Om." Subaru repeated firmly, eyes shut tight, hands clasped in front of him. The circle was glowing. He heard the creak of tree branches, a swirling of petals blown by a wind that was not there, circling, circling.

"Papa!" The child cried. "Papa!"

He raised one hand, fingers outstretched, grasping. A flicker of smoke, a smoldering unmasked, and he trembled as the wind howled through him, through the room, and the lights went out.

"Papa!" The child shrieked.

And the wind howled…and then it was not a wind but the screaming of a woman, a woman's screaming with the creaking of the sakura tree and then he suddenly understood what had happened to Isamu's mother, because long ago the woman who lay buried under the roots of the trees had been young and lovely and she had been singing when he had cut out her throat, because the music had been so beautiful he could not stand it.

[hageshii ame no naka de utatte yo  
_sing for me in the pouring rain_]

"Om kyari shawa om dhari shawa!"

Crystal strings, crystal notes, the edges of sharp crystal were razors and he was standing on a razor blade so thin he could feel it cutting into the soles of his feet, and the howling from the chasm was too great. He pulled the strands.

The shikigami cried out, once, twice, still unformed in the planes of existence between the fantastic and reality, and a single black feather shredded the darkness. Black crystal, and as he caught it in his hand he felt it pierce skin, flesh, and bone, and tasted his own blood in his mouth as he raised it.

And threw.

The child staggered, once, twice, arms moving in a grotesque parody of a concerto for the dying, and the ghost of the woman flared around him as the house began to crumble.

He ran, flew fluidly into the center of the circle. The ghost's eyes were empty sockets and he remembered the feel of her flesh in his hands, warm and pliant.

_I won't let you have him!_

I don't intend to take him, he replied, and pulled again, and she screamed, a high keening sound that would have scraped at the edge of his soul, if he had had one.

_He's MINE!_

[toki no nagare ni hikisakareta ai o  
_of love washed away by passing time_]

And through the storm of sakura petals he saw the one whom he had vowed to protect, eyes empty and mouth moving soundlessly against the wind. Watched as the angelic face contorted. Watched as Subaru fell.

His arms moved out almost against his will and the body was strangely feather-light against the weight of the dark ghosts he was used to carrying, or maybe that was because he had already claimed Subaru and there was nothing left to carry.

Subaru was a part of him.

_My own body. My own flesh._

Begone, he said to the ghost. _Go back to where you came from. Go back to where I sent you._

The taste of sakura petals was bitter like the taste of wine mixed with blood and he breathed in the heady scent, feeling his senses sharpened, and pulled once more.

_You belong there._

The woman screamed, and the child began to unravel, slowly piece by piece, eyeless, limbless, voiceless, fine crystal splintering in the wind. He imagined he could hear the wild notes of violins, their bodies and faces crumbling as the strings broke. One by one.

_NO! HE'S MINE!_

Toshiko Isamu, he breathed, looking into her distorted, eyeless, white face, _never existed._

I'LL NEVER LET YOU HAVE HIM!

And neither…did you.

And everything ceased.

[can't you stop

There are corpses buried…under the sakura tree…aren't there?

the rain]

He was watering the plants in the study when Subaru awoke. He never understood why Hokuto kept plants. She of all people had never been a plant person and would never be a plant person, and the leaves were wilting. He felt sorry for them, so he decided to water them. Because it was something to do.

"Sei-Seishirou-san?"

He wiped his hands, turned. The boy was awake now, sitting up on the couch and rubbing his eyes.

"Did you sleep well?"

"What-what happened…?"

He frowned. "What happened? What do you mean…?" He put down the watering can and walked to the stereo, checking to make sure that there was a CD in the player before he turned it on. Listened to it whir for a bit. "Nothing happened. I came over for dinner and you fell asleep on the couch afterward." Smiling. "You looked very peaceful."

Subaru put a hand to his head, winced, as if it ached. Pulled it away as if he expected to see blood there. "I…must have had some very disturbing dreams…?"

The music filled the silent room. He didn't know where Hokuto was. It didn't matter.

"What is this music?"

"Beethoven, of course," he said smoothly. "My favorite. You should know that. Romance in G Major…"

[mou todokanai omoi o chiribame nagara  
_scattering memories that will never again reach you_]

"Seishirou-san…I…"

"Yes?"

"Nothing." A dusky murmur, a note of question, and he let it hang in the air for a moment, feeling the music, the long held chords of the violins, draw him in.

"If you're troubled, Subaru-kun, please don't hesitate to discuss it with me." He smiled, a gentle smile. "I'm here to help you."

"I feel like…there's something that I should be doing…"

"Thinking about work again?" He tsked softly. "That's not good for you. Relax. Listen to the music."

Subaru smiled wanly. "I am. Thank you."

He made sure the boy was turned away, staring at the ceiling, pensive, and then came around the side of the desk, resting his cheek on the dark hair. Subaru shuddered slightly, once. The green eyes closed.

"What's wrong, Subaru?"

"I…I don't feel…"

The notes spilled into the air like shining crystal, and one arm slid across the boy's chest, ever so softly, so smoothly, and Subaru sighed.

"Alive…"

"Perhaps," he whispered against the silken hair, "you have never existed."

"Perhaps…" the voice sounded sleepy, and he smiled.

"Perhaps…neither have I."

[all I need is your light]

The breathing was relaxing and he felt a surge of…something as he got up, prepared to turn off the music, to leave the light on while Subaru slept.

"Seishirou."

He paused.

"Don't leave me…"

He smiled again and then leaned forward, pressed the lean body against him, felt the heartbeat against his chest, so small and frail and so…fleeting.

"I'll never leave you, Subaru."

[nureta kokoro ga hikisakareru mae ni  
_before it shreds my drenched heart to pieces_]

The sakura petals drifted down as the wind caressed the boughs, bringing with it the scent of summer and perfumed nights and the sound of violins, as the thunder rumbled overhead and it began to rain.


End file.
